loader from loading.io

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Midnight Cinema with Art and Erik

Release Date: 12/10/2025

Re-Animator show art Re-Animator

Midnight Cinema with Art and Erik

“I gave him life!” Grab your syringes, lock the morgue doors, and for the love of God keep your head attached!  This week Midnight Cinema is injecting itself straight into the cult-splattered madness of Re-Animator. Art and Erik dive headfirst Stuart Gordon’s gloriously unhinged 1985 adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft, the film that taught us two important lessons: medical ethics are optional, and dead bodies do not appreciate unsolicited resurrection. Jeffrey Combs delivers an all-time performance as Herbert West, a brilliant, abrasive, morally bankrupt mad scientist armed with...

info_outline
The Thing (1982) show art The Thing (1982)

Midnight Cinema with Art and Erik

“I hear funny things out here… funny things…” Bring your long johns, pack the J&B Scotch, make sure the flamethrowers are working, and don’t trust anybody. We’re taking the chopper to Outpost 31. This week Midnight Cinema is the warmest place to hide as Art and Erik trek to Antarctica for The Thing — John Carpenter’s snow-bound masterpiece of paranoia, goo, and existential dread. Released in 1982 to tepid reviews and skimpy box office, The Thing was unfairly dismissed on arrival. But it over the decades it has clawed its way to being considered one of the greatest...

info_outline
Zombeavers show art Zombeavers

Midnight Cinema with Art and Erik

Bring your shotguns, pack your tightest shorts, and dammit—stay away from the beaver lodge! Art and Erik chomp into the outrageous 2015 horror-comedy Zombeavers, the movie that bravely asks the question no one needed answered: What if a zombie apocalypse… but beavers? A weekend girls’ getaway for three sorority sisters turns into a gnawing nightmare when toxic waste transforms a family of cute, industrious beavers into an army of undead furballs with an unstoppable appetite for flesh, limbs, and very unfortunate college students. We’re diving teeth-first into: Zombie beavers with...

info_outline
Dead & Buried show art Dead & Buried

Midnight Cinema with Art and Erik

Be sure to follow and subscribe on , , or wherever you listen! No coastal road trips required. And come hang with us on , , and  for clips, chaos, behind-the-scenes shenanigans, and and the occasional warning about towns that look a little too friendly. .

info_outline
They Live show art They Live

Midnight Cinema with Art and Erik

MAKE SURE YOU PUT THE GLASSES ON! This week on Midnight Cinema, we’re tuning in to John Carpenter’s They Live. It's the alien-invasion, anti-consumerist, pro–back-alley-fistfight classic that proves the real monsters were inside the boardroom all along. Roddy Piper stars as Nada, a drifter who stumbles upon the single most powerful accessory in movie history: a pair of sunglasses that reveal the ugly truth beneath our shiny, ad-soaked reality. Billboards bark commands. Newscasters rot from the inside out. Capitalism is literally not human. And the only way to wake people up… is...

info_outline
Gremlins show art Gremlins

Midnight Cinema with Art and Erik

Don’t get them wet. Don’t feed them after midnight. And whatever you do… don’t press play alone. This week on Midnight Cinema, Art and Erik head to Kingston Falls to unwrap one of the most chaotic holiday gifts ever committed to film: Gremlins. What starts as a sweet 1984-era Christmas fantasy quickly mutates into a punk-rock creature feature stuffed with anarchic humor, broken rules, and homicidal puppets in Santa hats. Directed by Joe Dante and produced by Steven Spielberg, Gremlins somehow manages to be heartwarming, horrifying, and completely unhinged often in the same scene. We...

info_outline
Rare Exports show art Rare Exports

Midnight Cinema with Art and Erik

Gas up the snowmobiles, staple your Advent calendar shut, grab the gingerbread cookies and please study the safety instructions! We’re heading to Finland. This week on Midnight Cinema, Art and Erik travel deep into the frozen wilderness to unwrap one of the most wickedly original Christmas movies ever made: Jalmari Helander’s Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. Forget everything you think you know about Santa Claus. This isn’t a jolly old man squeezing down chimneys — this is ancient folklore, buried alive beneath the Arctic ice, waiting to be unearthed by corporate greed, dynamite, and...

info_outline
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians show art Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Midnight Cinema with Art and Erik

Ho-ho-hold onto your helmets! This week, Art and Erik blast off into one of the most delightfully bizarre holiday oddities ever projected onto a screen: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians—the children’s matinee fever dream that boldly asked, “What if Mars just really needed Santa?” This 1964 movie answers crucial questions like: What if Martian kids binge-watched too much Earth TV and got sad? What if Mars solved its depression problem by… kidnapping Santa? What is this terrifying creature called Torg? How cute can a polar bear attack actually get? And how many puns can one movie jam...

info_outline
Krampus show art Krampus

Midnight Cinema with Art and Erik

Robots and Angels and Bears, Oh My!  Get the Christmas cookies in the oven, finish your letter to Santa, and whatever you do, don't let the fire go out! Hop in the Hummer because Midnight Cinema is celebrating the holidays with the Engel family! And you're invited!  Art and Erik are facing down the shadow of Saint Nicholas as they lead you through the snowbound fun that is Michael Dougherty's 2015 holiday horror comedy Krampus!  We're opening every present and examining every demonic toy of this Christmas-set modern classic.  In this episode, we unwrap:  The...

info_outline
The Guardian show art The Guardian

Midnight Cinema with Art and Erik

Grab your baby monitor, oil up the chainsaw, and for the love of all that is holy stay away from the tree line because this week Art and Erik are diving head-first into William Friedkin’s The Guardian, the 1990 “Wait… Friedkin made THIS?” supernatural horror oddity. That’s right: the director of The Exorcist, The French Connection, Sorcerer, and To Live and Die in L.A. decided to go full druid-nanny-tree-monster—and we’re here to lovingly pick through every branch, twig, and inexplicable creative decision. From mystical kidnappings to nature-worshipping erotica to...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

Ho-ho-hold onto your helmets! This week, Art and Erik blast off into one of the most delightfully bizarre holiday oddities ever projected onto a screen: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians—the children’s matinee fever dream that boldly asked, “What if Mars just really needed Santa?”

This 1964 movie answers crucial questions like:

  • What if Martian kids binge-watched too much Earth TV and got sad?
  • What if Mars solved its depression problem by… kidnapping Santa?
  • What is this terrifying creature called Torg?
  • How cute can a polar bear attack actually get?
  • And how many puns can one movie jam into a toy workshop before OSHA steps in?

We break down:

Santa & Mrs. Claus — Where do they rank in the cinematic Christmas Pantheon?

Martian culture: Sleep Spray for the children, cattle prods for the adults and food pills for everybody!

ChoChem:  The ancient sage who is performing like his life depended on it!

Torg:  Villain? Pet? Misunderstood gentle giant? Cardboard?

Voldar  The only guy taking this plot seriously, and his mustache is with him every step of the way!

1960s sci-fi ambition  Shot with the confidence of a blockbuster and the budget of a PTA bake sale.

Plus: Set Designs from community theater, Pia Zadora before she was known as Pia Zadora, how to stage a climactic action scene with 25 cents left in the budget, and actors doing their best to save film by saving mistakes in the moment!

It’s a wild ride, so join us on Spaceship One! Kimar and Droppo are waiting!

If you make it back from Mars without being bonked by Torg, zapped by a malfunctioning Martian headpiece, or force-fed space vitamins by Momar, come hang with us for more late-night deep dives into cult classics, holiday oddities, and all the wonderfully wobbly cinema we adore at

midnightcinemapod.com

Be sure to follow and subscribe on Apple PodcastsSpotify, or wherever you listen! No interplanetary travel required.

And come hang with us on FacebookTikTok, and YouTube for clips, chaos and  for clips, chaos, behind-the-scenes shenanigans, and the occasional message beamed directly from Santa’s workshop on Mars.